How
The New Call Of Duty Reinvents Old Battlegrounds on Newsweek hears from
Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg about Call of Duty: WWII, the just-released
military shooter that revisits its original setting (thanks
GameSpot). One tidbit from the conversation is how this return to World War
II came to be, as Hirshberg explains that the developers at Sledgehammer wanted
to go back to the future and make Advanced Warfare 2 before the executive
branch exerted
creative influence:

“Sledgehammer wanted to make Advanced Warfare
2,” Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg told Newsweek. A sequel to 2014’s Call of
Duty: Advanced Warfare seemed obvious, as it was regarded positively by fans and
critics alike. But Hirshberg and his colleagues saw a deeper trend emerging from
their millions-strong audience. Many fans called for the franchise to return to
its real history roots; the first six installments of the multi-billion dollar
franchise were all set during World War II. And he was confident that
Sledgehammer would be the studio to go there. “We knew they would become
historians, that they would tackle it with authenticity, give it tremendous care
and we also knew they would capture the unspeakable scale of World War
II.”

It should read, we were happy to do Advanced Warfare 2 until EA shipped BF1 then we shit our pants and panicked. We forced Sledge Hammer to do a WWII version, so give me credit for doing that and please do not let Bobby fire me.